A local woman says her family was recently defrauded of roughly $1,500 by a scam artist whose numbers showed up as 9-1-1 or the Cadiz Police Department.

“When you have police actually calling you, and you call the number back and it’s the police, you think it’s legitimate,” said Jennifer Gonzalez. “We’re not stupid people. We don’t make mistakes like that. We don’t give out our numbers. But he had everything on us.“

Gonzalez said she received a call at home, identified as 9-1-1, asking for her fiancé Carl. An hour later, He called her to say they called to tell him they were going to take him to jail because of an outstanding loan balance, and that he needed to send them roughly $450, she added.

Not long after he sent the money via Green Dot Money Pak Card, someone calling themselves a lawyer called and said to him that the company wouldn’t accept his payment because of late fees and processing and attorney fees, and that he needed to send another $957, said Gonzalez.

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